Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-01-18
PAINTING ON CHINA.
RECENT REVIVAL OF MINIATURE POR-
TRAiTURe AMONG AMATEURS.

RECENT REVIVAL OF MINIATURE POR-
TRAiTURe AMONG AMATEURS.
Soup Plates that Bear the Impress OF
| neauty and Dishes Decorated with
| the Heads of the Pretty Girls of the
! Family.
| The young New York woman has found a
new amusement She paints on china-not
/ the sort of painting on china that was the
/ rage during the first years of the great
| American renaissance Of art succeeding the
centennial; she no longer decorates her
mamma's soup plates with cluster Of cat
tails that resembles nothing on earth 50
much as bunch Of saUsages hung up on q
green string. She paints her mamma's por
trait on the plate so that when papa eats
his dinner he finds slice OF rare beef re-
clining on his better half's plump cheek
and her well preserved locks plentifully be-
strewn with green peas, while her right eye
regards him tenderly through a film Of
gravy.
This is one of the phases of an endeavor
to return to the lost art Of miniature paint
ing which fell into innocuous desuetude
when the reign of the daguerreotype began
that charming method OF reaching i'm
mortality still TO be found in country par
lOrs. Little brown leather cases fastened
with two little hooks, in which papa and
mamma sit hand in hand with a smile Of
vaCuouS aTniability waiting to be took"
and ambitious TO hand down his big collars
and her crinoline TO an affectionats poster
ity who have to figure around with the light
to catch glimpse Of them at all
LATELY INTRODUCED
Whenever Americans go TO Seyres or
Dresden they order portraits Of themselves or
their frie Ids painted on porcelain Il il
this art Of porcelain miniature that has
lately been introduced here BY Miss Smith,
who is a graduate Of the Cincinnati School
Of Porcelain Painting, and has studied In
both Sevres and Dresden. Glasses of young
women study under her and are learning TO
produce the sort of porcelain portrait for
which it was formerly necessary to go
abroad. These are in many respects very
satisfactory. They lack some of the sxquis-
ite softness and purity of tone given by the
old ivory grounds, but they have the ad-
vantage OF being practically indestructible.
The life of any painting on canvas is easily
calculable, but portrait on china is very
nearly immortal, time and exposure to light
have no effect upon it, and after [, 200 years
it would be as fresh and pure in tint as the
lay it came from the kiln.
These porcelain miniatures can be made
OF any size, from a head fifth of life size
on plate or plaque to tiny productions on
bits Of china not larger than a silver quar-.
ter OF a dollar. II is said that one lovely
young female here, whose head has been
photographed from every point of the com
pass and in every pose, inside a well knowI
bachelor a handsome dressing gown. whose
every button was painted with one Of the
many protraits of herself, and she painted
them with her own clever fingers, making
very excellent ikenesses Of herself on every
button.
There are two methods Of painting these
miniatures. The French, which is almost
entirely stippled, much of it requiring to be
done under a magnifying glass. This is
necessitated by the weakness Of the French
colors, which stand but two flrings The
other, the German method, as used in the
Dresden factories, is much less difficult and
the pictures are done BY series Of washes,
the German coiors standing any number of
returns to the kiln. This latter method
Miss Smith finds the fayorite one with her
n,,pils nc the ,os,I,s or, =, - -
roIiJ al ,,,a 81, -, -, e -
oyy,, r1r.roits sha - oargS;r.sar =.
bo,b rna,nar-, - SeJ. a. - "a - -
w., 49, .-,,,,,s',t,,I -1 - '-'
- ,nAt'iiN" roHrhAiis'
NuniOers Oh teShionabie women have
SaAeh up ths ne" fancy, ana, as result,
nave iil1de some charming portraits OF their
own Cao"s' "hlch are SET as brooches or In
oi"e4etS' cniiureii heads, with ther SOFT
SaF'es ana HelicaIe IhtS lending themselves
enet'I'tIS 20 TINS WORK Ohe mother, whose
qh'Sr Is luil, mas bracelet In which the
'ny n'si'iS Oh ner nVe oaoles are set, and It
.nahes cnai ming sdorninent tor her plump
"Hr,e ~, "lS!'
in'se MINIATURES IN are not always 50 small,
However Inc ia'orite size Is a small square
tiaoe oi proceiain ABOUT the SIZE OF an or
Iiiiary ~ photograph, ana framed IN plush
they are very desirable form OF preserv-
ins inc features OF ones sell and friends
Lhe Americans had at one time great
Revolutionary war, as miniature painters,